The articulated crane can reach from the side-sampling station to beyond the transom on the opposite side of the ship. From the control booth, the operator now has unobstructed visibility of the working deck and instruments to be deployed there through the entire range of motion of the A-frame as well as the hydrographic winches.

One year, one hurricane, and a big clean-up later, the FSV Bigelow is coming down the home stretch for delivery this year. With the exception of some electronics antennas, all of the major pieces of the new ship are now in place and working.

The photo top at right was taken March 3, 2006.  The Bigelow is being towed down the Pascagoula River from the builder's Moss Point shipyard to their Pascagoula shipyard, where final outfitting will take place.  The photo was taken by Wayne Hoggard, NMFS protected species biologist,  who was standing in front of the agency's Pascagoula Laboratory.  The river is actually too shallow for the ship to safely navigate.  That's a barge attached to her stern, providing sufficient buoyancy to raise the ship during transit down the river.

The photos at left and below were taken on February 7, 2006 in the shipyard of VTHalter,  the company constructing the vessel in Pascagoula, Mississippi. NOAA/NEFSC photos by Charles Byrne and Wayne Hoggard.

The main controls consoles on this spacious bridge are in three cabinets that are arranged in a “U”. (On either side of the bridge (not in the photo) there are also bridge wing control consoles.) The bolted plate covering the top of the centerboard trunk is located in the center of the “U”. If a bolted plate in the overhead, and this plate are removed, the centerboard can be lifted up through the center of the ship and removed. And yes . . . for those of you who have sailed on the DELAWARE II, that is Gary McNally (boatswain - lead fisherman for the FSV break-in crew) in the photo.